Kailyn

What’s It Really Like?

Each semester IFSA-Butler students chronicle their adventures and experiences as they live and study in different countries. Read a firsthand perspective of how cultural and educational differences shape their journey.

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We have officially hit single digits in the departure countdown (technically we hit single digits about 6 days ago but that’s not really important), and I don’t think that it’s really sunk in that in 4 days I’ll be on a plane on my way to Sydney. Even without looking at my countdown app, I know it’s getting close because I get the same question from different people every day; “Are you all packed and ready to go?!” and my answer is still the same…”No.” I’m a few days away from leaving for 4½ months and I haven’t packed a single pair of socks, but we can blame that on my procrastination problem. I mean, I’ve bought all the cute little travel sized items that I’ll need during orientation, and I’ve bought new luggage…but that’s about all that I’ve accomplished in terms of preparing to go to Los Angeles for the flight.

I’ve gotten a lot of the same questions about this trip so I thought it would be a good idea to address the FAQ’s here, and instead of answering each question again for the hundredth time, I’ll just send them over to this blog. So without further ado, let’s get into this!

Question #1 – “Are you excited?”

OF COURSE I AM! There are so many things that I have to be excited for on this adventure. One thing is obviously the fact that I’m leaving the country! This is a big deal for me especially because I’ve actually never been out of the state of Texas, except for when I went to Disney World in Florida…, but this trumps Disney World by like 100 times. Another thing I’m excited about is the food! Hello, aren’t we all excited about the food over there?! Like what even does Australian food consist of? I have no idea but I cannot wait to find out. I’m also super stoked about the classes that I get to take (is that too nerdy? Oh well) because coming from such a small University, we don’t have classes like adolescent psychology or classes about studying demons and cults and cool things like that. Now, I’m sure there are other things that I’m also really excited for but these are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

Question #2 – “Are you scared?”

To be honest, not really. The one big thing that I am kind of nervous about is the flight because I have never flown before much less even been to the airport. I can already picture the facial expression you’re probably making right now because it looks something like “Are you serious?” and “Oh you poor thing” combined…am I right? Probably. Anyhow, it’s not the fact that I’ll be a million miles in the air that makes me nervous, it’s the possibility of me getting sick. Fifteen hours is a long time to be stuck in a confined space while feeling like you’re going to puke every ten seconds. Also I’m a little scared of not having Mexican food for like five months because I’m from Texas and breakfast tacos and enchiladas are my life.

Question #3 – “Is it expensive?”

Trust me when I say this; studying abroad is very do-able.

Those are the basic questions that I get asked on a daily basis. Overall my emotions are all over the place but excitement is definitely the top emotion that I’m feeling.